KYIV. April 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Consumer confidence in Ukraine improved by 0.7 points, to 41.8 in March 2015, according to a study conducted by GfK Ukraine.
“In March 2015 the fall in consumer confidence of Ukrainians [which] continued for the past fours month [was] suspended. The Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) improved by 0.7 points, to 41.8,” reads the report on the study issued by the company.
The company said that the Index of Propensity to Consume lost 3.3 points, reaching 48.9.
Expectations of changes in unemployment improved: the Index of Expectations of Changes in Unemployment (IECU) rose by 6.1 points, to 163.3.
Inflationary expectations improved: the Index of Inflationary Expectations (IIE) lost 6.7 points, reaching 181. Devaluation expectations improved by 27.4 points, to 133.6.
“In the periods of the reduction of devaluation expectations consumer confidence mainly improved among rich citizens and residents of large cities. Along with measures aimed at reducing the deficit of the Pension Fund, confidence of respondents aged 60 or over worsened by 3 points,” reads the report.
CCI in Ukraine is calculated on the basis of a selective poll of households. During the study, 1,000 people aged from 16 upwards were polled.
GfK Ukraine is a Ukrainian research company. It is part of the GfK Group international market research network.
KYIV. April 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Verkhovna Rada has adopted at second reading, and as a whole, law No. 2250 on the natural gas market. All in all, 290 deputies voted for the decision.
When considering the law, MPs confirmed the amendment, which prohibits the use of state gas pipelines by private operators under the terms of economic management (for free). At the same time, the lease or concession of gas distribution systems is not prohibited.
The main purpose of the law is the creation of an effective, competitive environment in the natural gas market, taking into account the basic requirements of EU legislation, including those under Directive 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament concerning common rules for the internal market of natural gas, and Regulation 715/2009 of the European Parliament on the conditions of access to natural gas transmission networks.
According to MP Ostap Semerak (People’s Front), the adoption of the law is one of the conditions for the approval of a $17.5 billion IMF loan for Ukraine under the new EFF program.
Earlier, Naftogaz Ukrainy board chairman Andriy Kobolev said that bringing Ukrainian gas legislation in line with European standards would increase the prospects of the country’s participation in the European Energy Union.
KYIV. April 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The EU and NATO will never recognize violent changes to Ukraine’s borders, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski has said.
During his speech at the Ukrainian parliament, Komorowski said that the EU and NATO only recognize territorial integrity of Ukraine within the borders that were established in 1991, and any violent changes to them never be accepted.
Komorowski said that such attempts would be always condemned by Poland.
Moreover, Komorowski said that troops, armed vehicles and anti-aircraft installations of the Russian aggressor are present in eastern part Ukraine, adding that said that only blind people cannot see this.
He stressed that the western world can only feel safe when Ukraine is safe.
KYIV. April 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ukrainian authorities are hoping that after the Eastern Partnership summit in Riga the European Union will recognize Kyiv’s prospects for European integration and will agree to cancel visa requirements from January 1, 2016, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko said.
“We must get (answers to) two main questions. First: recognition of the European prospect for Ukraine. Second: support for the Ukrainian bid to secure visa-free travel from January 1, 2016,” Poroshenko said after talks with his Polish counterpart Bronislaw Komorowski in Kyiv on Wednesday.
The Eastern Partnership summit is due to be held in Riga on May 21-22.
For his part, the Polish president said that he thinks it possible to grant Ukraine visa-free travel at the May summit.
“On this issue, the Polish position is definitely pro-Ukrainian, and we are certain that there is a possibility to secure such a regime and there is a possibility to secure the same position from the whole of the EU that will be making a political decision on the matter,” Komorowski said.
KYIV. April 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ireland’s low-cost airline Ryanair is potentially ready to enter Ukraine, in particular, Lviv airport, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Andriy Pyvovarsky told reporters on Wednesday.
“Ryanair is potentially ready, and other low-cost airlines are potentially ready, but Easy Jet – unlikely. This potentially means that they are to study and analyze. This is only economy and they are interested in the sums that can earn. Various conditions could be, and my task and the task of my deputies, the State Aviation Service is to at least contact them and say “welcome,” give their vision and on what conditions they are ready to enter, and we will see if we can provide any conditions to them,” he said.
He said that Ukraine is ready to provide various preferences to airlines at Lviv airport.
As reported, in May 2012 Infrastructure Minister Borys Kolesnikov said that Ryanair had said that it was ready to enter Ukraine. Aviation market experts subsequently said that it is unlikely that the airline will come to Ukraine
KYIV. April 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Japanese government has confirmed it plans to provide a JPY 108 billion loan to reconstruct the Bortnychi aeration station in Kyiv, Kyivvodokanal Board Chairman and Director General Andriy Bilyk said at a roundtable talk in Kyiv on Wednesday, with reference to tentative information from the Japanese Embassy in Ukraine.
“This is the official confirmation of plans of the Japanese government to support the financing of the project on the reconstruction of the Bortnychi aeration station in the amount of JPY 108 billion,” he said.
Bilyk said that the agreement is an important stage in the project to reconstruct the Bortnychi aeration station. It precedes the signing of the intergovernmental credit agreement.
“It would pass no more than two months from the approval and publication of the pledge to the signing of the intergovernmental credit agreement,” he said.
He said that the provision of funds by Japan to Kyivvodokanal would not affect tariffs for water supplies and sewage services for Kyiv residents.
“This credit is the largest credit in the utilities sector in Eastern Europe. It would not affect the tariff in the near future, as the financial conditions are unique and we have 10 years of vacation period,” he said.
